(The information was current as of 1996-97 and has not been updated since, nor will be updated)

Below are the 10 dictionaries (Ger-Ger and Ger-Eng, Eng-Ger) I've found now available on CD-ROM. Please let me know if there are more. (I list only German and Ger/Eng/Ger dictionaries, not "encyclopedic" dictionaries, Zitatenlexika, Fremdwoerterbuecher, etc.)

ISBN given first, edition if known, unverbindlicher Richtpreis, and platform -- mostly PC (= Windows) only. (Uebrigens, a variety of these and other -- usu. smaller -- dictionaries also come bundled with the all-in-one-box "reference sets" from Brockhaus, Bertelsmann, Meyer, etc.)

All items listed are available from various sources, like IBIS (www.IBIService.com), or through our fellow Listlerin Jessie McGuire at Langenscheidt New York (jmcguire@langenscheidt.com).

• 3-411-06922-8 Duden Deutsches Universalwoerterbuch A-Z AND Oxford-Duden German/English, Eng/Ger Dictionary. 1 CD-ROM. v. 1.1 DM 248. PC. This is my favorite. Two great dictionaries together on one CD and -- *searchable simultaneously*. (The translator's dream.) Version 1.1 is still what's available; this does not feature the new Rechtschreibung. User interface is annoyingly inflexible in a few ways (commands are limited, some keyboard shortcuts nonstandard, and customizability is meager) -- but still, I wouldn't be without it.
• 3-411-05479-4 Duden Deutsches Universalwoerterbuch A-Z, version 2.0 1 CD-ROM. 1996. DM 98. HYBRID (Mac/PC). This is the new edition (mit neuer Rechtschreibung) of this excellent dictionary -- note it's the German-German dictionary only (contrast to item above).
• 3-577-11017-1 Wahrig, Deutsches Woerterbuch. 1 CD-ROM. 1997 (neue Rechtschreibung). DM 98. PC. Another one of the standard German-German dictionaries, up-to-date.
• 3-12-168611-9 Paul, Hermann: Deutsches Woerterbuch. 1 CD-ROM. 9. Aufl. DM 78. PC. This is the grand old literary-philological dictionary: "Es stellt, von literarischen Belegen getragen, den semantischen Wandel des Wortschatzes dar und ist somit ein historisches Bedeutungs- und Belegwoerterbuch" (Vorwort).
• 3-468-90880-6 Langenscheidts Handwoerterbuch Englisch. Eng/Dt, Dt/Eng. 1 CD-ROM. DM 248. HYBRID (Mac/PC). This is the Langenscheidt offering comparable to the Oxford-Duden in size & scope, I believe.
• 3-468-90903-9 Langenscheidts Taschenwoerterbuch Englisch. Eng/Dt, Dt/Eng. 1 CD-ROM. DM 98. PC. About 3/5 the scope of the Handwoerterbuch (above).
• The preceding Taschenwoerterbuch is also available as a CD-ROM with "Sprachausgabe" (it speaks the Stichwoerter aloud, I guess -- correct me, Jessie, if I'm wrong) for DM 128 (ISBN 3-468-90904-7.
• 3-468-90925-X Langenscheidts Eurowoerterbuch Eng/Ger Ger/Eng. 1 CD-ROM. DM 49.80. PC. Modest: around 1/3 the scope of the Taschenwoerterbuch (above).
• 3-411-06861-2 Duden 10: Bedeutungswoerterbuch. 3 DISKETTES. DM 78. PC. "Ein Lernwoerterbuch."
• I have to mention also Duden 2: Stilwoerterbuch, which though not a traditional dictionary is a wonderful (even indispensable) tool: 3-411-06581-8, 1 CD-ROM, DM 78(?), PC.

1. The Oxford-Duden-combined-with-the-Duden-Universalwoerterbuch, in one unmistakable respect, simply can't be beat: it offers that 3-in-one package (Ger-Eng, Eng-Ger, Ger-Ger), and lets you search all three dictionaries for a single word at once. This feature alone means that I would never give it up. It's the one that stays in my CD-ROM drive most of the time.

However, the interface is annoying in some ways. It's not at all customizable, and I sure would love to reassign the keyboard commands to something better than the weirdly awkward ones Duden somehow came up with. But you do get used to it, sort of. (I have the 1.1 version. I don't know if there's a version 2.0 out yet (I'm writing in Oct. 97), but very likely there's one in the works -- since the Universalwoerterbuch *alone* on CD-ROM already *does* exist in a 2.0. Now, whether ease-of-use necessarily will any better in a 2.0 release is hardly guaranteed, of course! But we can hope.)

2. The Wahrig Deutsches Woerterbuch CD (ISBN 3-577-11017-1) is of course einsprachig, but its good interface and bountiful array of special features make it VASTLY more impressive software than the Duden/Oxford-Duden CD. Let me count the ways... (The Wahrig I'm describing here is a 2.0 version; neither box nor CD is actually labeled with that designation, oddly, but the box does say "neu" and is dated 1997.)

Wahrig arrays its definitions, Anwendungsbeispielen and Redewendungen in a very spacious, easy-to-read format, and, like the printed Wahrig, is generous with its Anwendungsbeispielen and Redewendungen.

Wahrig also claims to have more than twice the number of Stichwoerter that the Duden Universalwoerterbuch has (250,000 in contrast to Duden's 120,000). I find this hard to believe, but I haven't gotten around to counting all the words yet. (!)

Wahrig offers some voice-production (Duden does not): "Vertonung von rund 8000 schwierig auszusprechenden Fremdwoertern."

One frame always shows the list of entries preceding and following the word you've searched for, so browsing is made easy.

Double-clicking on any word used *within* the text of a definition zooms you directly to a definition of that word in turn. (The Oxford-Duden can also achieve this, sort of, but it often takes several clicks and keystrokes.)

The Wahrig Help screens are very well-designed and useful. Along with the text of all five Vorworte (!) from 1975 to 1997, you get a "Kurzanleitung" (point-and-click on various parts of a sample dictionary-window to get brief explanations of what they are, or do) and a longer and thorough set of "Hinweise für den Benutzer" (with a Tabelle der Aussprachezeichen).

Best of all, the Wahrig has numerous additional features that make it much more than "just a dictionary":

--an appendix of "Geographische Namen" together with the designation of what you call people who come from that place (die aus Barbados heissen anscheinend "Barbadier," z.B.);

--a browsable section of full, easy-to-read tables of noun declensions and irregular verb conjugations. Better yet, these are cleverly linked to the dictionary entries themselves: "Tabellen-Teil: Enthält die Deklinations- und Konjugationstabellen. Hinter Stichwörtern im A-Z-Teil finden Sie häufig Kürzel wie <w.10> oder<tr.15>. Klicken Sie auf ein solches Kürzel, so wird die dazugehörige Tabelle eingeblendet."

--a long "Lexikon der deutschen Sprachlehre," presenting entries in the style of a Sprachlexikon-cum-usage-manual on everything from "Abkuerzungen" and "Ablaut" through "Farbbezeichnungen," "Kategorialgrammatik," "Silbentrennung," "Strassennamen," and so on. As if this weren't enough, there follows a long bibliography of linguistic studies & handbooks related to these various "Sprachlehre" topics.

This Wahrig incorporates the new orthography (all changes labeled in red on the screen) alongside the old; and it includes a full manual of the Rechtschreibreform rules and an ample bibliography (again) on the topic.

A final superb virtue: Wahrig offers, during installation, to plant itself right into your copy of WinWord 6 or 7. If you accept, then the next time you open Word (it doesn't seem to matter whether you are running the American or the German version of Word), you find that a cool little red "W" button has taken up residence on your toolbar. This button, once clicked, summons up the Wahrig dictionary in a flash. If you highlight a German word in your w/p text before pressing the red "W" (or ALT-1, its keyboard command), Wahrig opens directly to that Stichwort.

Both the Duden and the Wahrig are pre-prepared to integrate smoothly with all other CD-ROM reference works made-by-their-respective-companies (for the Wahrig, this means made by "BEE" -- Bertelsmann Electronic Editions). Unfortunately, though, I have not been able to make the Wahrig and the Duden integrate smoothly with *one another*; Wahrig won't accept the Duden CD onto its "library shelf," nor vice versa.